Heartbreaker
by Clover64
Summary: Oneshot. The final thrilling and heartbreaking scenes in Episode III ...only starring KotOR characters![Mical&Exile pairing]


**A/N: Here is a little oneshot that I've been thinking of doing for some time now...and I'm excited thatI finally got around to writing it! It is the pivotal scenes between Anakin & Padme, and then Anakin & Obi-Wan...only with a twist. The characters aren't from Episode III, they are KotOR characters! I'm really proud of this piece of writing and hope that you will enjoy it...so without further ado!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...all dialogue is from Episode III. George Lucas owns it all. Don't sue me...I don't have any money, anyway...**

_**Heartbreaker**_

The ship descended into the hot atmosphere of the planet Mustafar. The planet that would hold many answers to secrets and lies. The planet that would ruin the lives of millions. Mustafar was a pivotal planet that would decide the fate of an entire galaxy. After this day, the whole galaxy will know that Mustafar had always been here...sleeping. Awaiting the day it would erupt, as it's many volcanoes did constantly, and spew despair and misery across that face of the galaxy.

He pondered all the events that had led to this moment. The events that he prayed were lies; the events he knew deep down were true...and had happened. Looking across the surface of the planet, he got a sickening feeling in his gut. There was darkness here...whether that stemmed from the past or present was still unclear to him, but it managed to worry him all the more.

Why had she done it? Many would contemplate this decades after he would...but they would all reach the same startling conclusion. She had done it out of love...out of love for a man that she had been forbidden to love. He knew their story would eventually go down in the history texts as the love that destroyed the galaxy. A love that caused death and pain.

This was his last chance to make things right. He hadn't chosen this life...nor had he wanted this destiny. But it was his all the same...no matter what he did, no matter what he said, and no matter what happened...his life would be shattered here. Part of him had known it from the beginning...and it was that same part that had also ignored the risks and consequences. Fate had decreed that their love be doomed...to achieve a greater purpose.

Mical sighed heavily. The landing gears initiated and they landed with a soft thud. His heart was pounding so loudly in his head that it had become hard to focus, to stay calm. This planet made him nervous...he knew what he had to do, and he dreaded doing it. He had to face the one he loved...he had to see her. He had to make certain everything Atris had told him was a lie.

The Exile. She would tell him the truth. She would look at him with those same cheerful eyes she had and smile, telling him that everything was all right...and Atris had, indeed, been lying. This was a fact that Mical had forced himself to believe. The Exile, now known to many as Hayley Stone, had changed. As much as he hated to admit it, she was not the same woman he had fallen in love with.

He raised his hand to his forehead as he looked out at the approaching figure. She was here...and Mical could tell something was different without even having to look at her. _She_ was the source of the disturbance he had felt; she was the cause of all the darkness on the planet. Many had died...and recently. Mical had no doubt that she had been the one who had snuffed out the lives of some sentients here.

She, the Exile, the woman that Mical loved...a murderer? He couldn't fathom it. It just couldn't be true. _Force don't let it be true. I can't lose her. _Mical thought sadly to himself. She was almost to the ship now, and so Mical got up and, pulling his robe tighter around him, ran towards the landing ramp. He was eager to find out the truth of all this deception. Hayley had been secretive recently...and Mical wished he had been able to seen the danger sooner, he might have been able to stop her from her dangerous path. But he hadn't seen it...because his love had blinded him.

Hayley rushed to greet him. "I saw your ship."

They embraced and Mical could smell the scent of death upon her. "Oh, Hayley." He said in a tone that was more pitying, than worried.

"What are you doing out here?" Hayley asked, running her fingers through his hair.

"Atris...she told me terrible things." Mical began.

He could immediately tell the difference in Hayley's tone just at the mention of her former Master's name. "What things?"

"That you've turned to the darkside...that you killed innocent people?" Mical said, worry flavoring his voice.

"Atris is trying to turn you against me." Hayley said, emotionless.

"She cares about us." Mical said pathetically...although he had doubts himself about Atris' true intentions as well.

"Us?" Hayley queried, a bit of anger present in her voice.

"She knows...she wants to help you." He said honestly. Mical could sense Hayley's difficulty to remain calm.

"We don't need her help." She said while she caressed his cheek softly.

Mical was running out of options. Hayley was...different. He had to bring her back...there had to be a way. "Hayley, all I want is your love."

Hayley smiled and shook her head. "Love won't protect you, Mical. Only my new powers can do that."

He tilted her chin to force her to look him in the eyes. "At what cost? You're a good person. Don't do this."

"I won't lose you the way I lost the Council. I've become more powerful than any Jedi has dreamed of...and I've done it for you. To protect you." Hayley said, emotion in her voice. Mical knew that Hayley was still in there...the woman that he loved, and would die for, was still alive somewhere. She was just buried beneath all the lies and darkness.

Mical grabbed her hands. "Come away with me. Help save the Republic. Leave everything else behind while we still can!"

"Don't you see? We don't have to run away anymore! I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than Kreia. I...I can overthrow her, and together you and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be." She said, a power-hungry look appearing in her eyes.

It was at that moment, that Mical had known that he had lost. Hayley Stone was gone...replaced by a minion of the darkside. "I don't believe what I'm hearing...Atris was right. You've changed."

"I don't want to hear anymore about Atris. The Jedi turned against me...don't you turn against me." She said, giving him a dark glare. A glare that penetrated his heart and destroyed all optimistic and hopeful thoughts and feelings he had left.

Mical let go of her hands and stepped back. "I don't know you anymore..." He said with a pained expression. "Hayley, you're _breaking my heart_! You're going down a path that I can't follow."

She was no longer looking at him, but behind him. "Because of Atris?"

"Because of what you've done...what you plan to do!" Mical took a step forward. This was his last and final chance to bring her back from the depths of darkness. "Stop, stop now! Come back! I _love you_!" He finished in a pleading tone.

Hayley looked at him with pure disgust and hatred. "LIAR!" She yelled at him venomously.

Mical turned around and saw Atris standing in the doorway of the _Ebon Hawk_. Mical whipped back around, knowing what would happen next. "No!"

"You're with her! You brought her here to kill me!" Hayley screamed angrily. Mical could sense all the hurt and confusion within her...and it pained him greatly.

"No! Hayley, I swear...I-" Hayley reached out and Mical could feel his throat being constricted.

Mical looked at her with a painful expression, silently pleading to be released from the death hold she had on him. But Hayley ignored his pathetic attempts for freedom. To her, she had betrayed him. But to Mical...she had betrayed him, and had forever broken his heart.

"Let him go, Hayley." Atris said with authority. "Let him _go_!"

The last image Mical had of Hayley was the guilty and horrified look that was displayed on her face as she released him and he fell into darkness.

What had she done? Mical now lay lifeless on the hot ground of the landing platform. "You turned him against me!"

Atris looked to Mical's form and then back to Hayley. A disgusted look upon her face. "You have done that yourself."

Hayley began pacing nervously, anger and hatred flooding her vision and taking control of her actions. "You will not take him from me!"

"Your greed and lust for power has already done that. You have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind until now...now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy." Atris said, throwing off he outer layer of her robe. Hayley did the same.

They began to circle each other until Atris reached Mical and placed a hand on his forehead. She could sense he was still alive...but struggling to stay that way. There was a deep pain within him...even while he was unconscious.

"Don't lecture me, Atris. I see through the lies of the Jedi. I don't fear the darkside as you do. I have brought peace, justice, freedom, and security to my new Empire." Hayley countered, as if justifying her actions made it less of a crime.

Atris looked up at her, confused. "Your new Empire?"

Hayley turned her back to her. She could no longer face Atris. Atris had turned Mical against her. The only man she had ever, and would ever love, against her. Turning her back to her was the ultimate sign of disrespect. "Don't make me kill you."

Atris' eyes softened. She could not kill Hayley, let alone fight her. She was like a sister to her...and Atris could not attack her. "Hayley, my allegiance lies with the Republic, with democracy!"

Hayley was silent for a moment. Tension crackled through the air like lightening, at panicked pace. "If you're not with me...then you're my enemy."

Atris grabbed her lightsaber from its place on her waist. "Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must."

"You will try." Hayley said before commencing her attack on the Jedi Master...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The battle raged on between the two Force-wielders. Hayley fighting with a ferocity that could be compared to no one else, and Atris fighting with a defensive stance the whole time. She did not want to hurt, or worse...kill, the only woman that she had ever connected with. Hayley had been different than most padawans her age. Atris should have seen the danger she represented...and what a threat to the galaxy she was. But she was blinded by her compassion and love for the young and bright student.

Hayley looked at her with pure hatred, as she balanced on the small droid that now floated beside Atris' floating platform. They were just a few inches above a boiling lake of lava. One false move could send either of them to their death.

"I have failed you, Hayley. I have failed you." Atris said weakly.

"I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over..." She answered, shaking her head as if trying to wipe away a bad memory.

"Hayley, Kreia is evil!" Atris yelled above the roar of the lava waterfall.

"Well, from my perspective, the Jedi are evil!" She shot back angrily and forcefully.

"Then you are lost!" Atris finished, only a hint or regret present. This was no longer a fight for their life...but for the fate of the galaxy.

Hayley smiled sadistically. "This is the end for you, _my master_." She taunted.

The young Sith made a daring leap behind the Jedi Master and landed on the platform, barely falling into the molten lava. Their fight raged on for a few more minutes before Atris, in one last attempt to end the fight peacefully, leapt backwards and onto a blackened sand embankment.

"It's over, Hayley! I have the higher ground." Atris said, spreading her arms out showing Hayley that she did, indeed, have the better position. Only a fool would try it.

Hayley was no fool...but she was an arrogant, and emotionally damaged, woman. "You underestimate my power!"

"Don't try it." Atris said, although she knew that Hayley was going to try it in a final hate-filled attempt to kill her.

Hayley summoned up the Force and made an amazing leap. Unfortunately, Atris was quicker. In the blink of an eye, Atris had severed both of Hayley's legs off at the knees, and her left arm. She screamed in pain as she rolled to the base of the embankment. Her moans of pain made Atris turn away in guilt. Why did it have to come down to this?

Atris began to cry slightly. "You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith...not _join_ them! It was you who would bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"

Atris walked over and picked up the lightsaber that had once belonged to a great Jedi Knight. She turned back, one last time to look at her former apprentice. Flames were just beginning to eat at her body and she screamed in agony.

"I _hate you_!" Hayley screamed angrily at her.

Atris looked down and then back up, locking eyes with Hayley. "You were my sister, Hayley. I loved you!"

Atris then turned and walked away from her enflamed apprentice. Her heart screaming in agony at having caused the death of one of her closest companions. She could not finish Hayley off; she could not put her out of her misery. It was Atris' mercy and compassion that doomed the people across the galaxy...sadly, Atris would live to see her apprentice take her place beside Kreia as a Dark Lord of the Sith.

_Now, when people look back to that day, they will forever remember that love, mercy, and compassion was, and will forever be, the pathway to inconceivable darkness..._

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! I'm thinking of doing more oneshots like this...let me know what you think. Please review!**


End file.
